


“Wo ai ni” is Mandarin for “I want to get in your pants”

by fujoshism (fancypineapple)



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Ex-Members, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-13
Updated: 2016-07-13
Packaged: 2018-07-23 19:15:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7476489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fancypineapple/pseuds/fujoshism
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Do Kyungsoo is looking forward to enjoying his high school life the most he can. The Mandarin club and Black-Framed Glasses Guy are here to help.</p>
            </blockquote>





	“Wo ai ni” is Mandarin for “I want to get in your pants”

**Author's Note:**

> originally posted on february 16, 2014. crossposted from my LJ fic comm fujoshism.

The thing is, there’s a truly abnormal amount of Chinese students in that particular neighborhood school. That’s a common subject of gossip-debate among the Korean majority; is their school the only to offer an exchange program with China in Seoul? Or is their program simply better? Does it have anything to do with its surrounding area? Shouldn’t these kids be attending a more prestigious institution instead? It’s all a very dense mystery. In the whole school, there are about twenty Chinese kids – granted, there are some who were born in the United States, or Canada, but, in the end, all of them speak Mandarin, and were raised in a Chinese environment, so: Chinese.

Some Korean students have a really hard time interacting with the Chinese ones. Usually, those are the ones who spread gossip about the Chinese ones being a clique, or even a delinquent gang, and try to fire up some kind of rivalry between the two demographics. Other students, arguably smarter, like to use the diversity to their own personal benefit.

“Mandarin club, huh…” Kyungsoo mutters to himself as he reads the pamphlet he has in hands. It’s been two days since he has started school, and he’s still unfamiliar with most of that whole High School Thing, but he has heard of the school’s fame of being a China hotspot for no apparent reason, so he’s not entirely surprised that such thing as a Mandarin club exists. What is, actually, the source of his reflection is: should he join it or not?

Joining clubs is an important part of school life, Kyungsoo acknowledges that. He remembers his days in the chorus club in middle school, all the rehearsals, the drama, and the make-up pizza after successful recitals. Clubs are fun. It’s too bad that they don’t have a chorus there – only a band, which is looking for a drummer, and Kyungsoo is most definitely not a drummer–so he has to settle with something else. Mandarin club does sound like a nice thing to settle with. But then again, so does home economy…

In order to take the wisest decision, Kyungsoo does some club visitation that afternoon. He rules all the sports clubs out immediately, because he’s not there for that. Band and brass club are also out, both because he can’t play instruments and because he knows the brass club president from elementary schooltimes and he’s a fucking prick. Then, he’s left with the occult club (no, thank you), the comics club ( _no_ , thank you), the home economy club, and the Mandarin club. He settles for visiting those two.

On Wednesday, he rules home economy out, because that really scary dark-faced Chinese kid from his class is there, and he looks very determined to do things right or die trying, which means someone might end up getting seriously hurt by rogue knitting needles or badly-handed electric mixers. Kyungsoo doesn’t want to admit he’s scared of his somber classmate, but, in all honesty, he kind of is. So, home economy is out, which leaves him with…

The Mandarin club’s meeting place is the library, which Kyungsoo finds strange. Are clubs even allowed to meet in public like that? Aren’t they supposed to be assigned a classroom to use? Well, regardless, on Thursday, after the last bell chimes, Kyungsoo sets off to the library, curious and slightly anxious.

The library isn’t very big; it’s proportional to the rest of the school, medium-sized, a bit messy, poorly illuminated, but cozy. There are many people sitting at the study tables, and Kyungsoo halts still for a moment. Now… at which one of these tables sits the Mandarin club? He takes the scenery in for a moment. At a nearby table, two girls are discussing something with very serious faces on, switching back and forth between English and Korean. On the far left, a guy Kyungsoo recognizes from the entrance ceremony is reading quietly, black-framed glasses on. Several seniors are crammed around a table, heatedly arguing over something written in a magazine. They’re incredibly noisy. Sighing resignedly, Kyungsoo moves out of the doorway and starts seeking the club amidst that mess.

Soon enough, he finds out that there are more tables at the back, and that they’re probably quieter, so he doesn’t hesitate and crosses the distance between him and relative quietness. There, most of the people are asleep, and the ones who aren’t – the only two guys that are sitting up straight – look like they’re waiting for someone. And there, atop of their table, there’s a small flag, with “Mandarin Club!!” written on it. Double exclamation marks and all.

Kyungsoo raises his eyebrows. That was… unexpectedly simple. He walked over to their table, which attracted their attention immediately.

“Hello…” he greets somewhat hesitantly, taking a seat. One of the guys has a small, round face, and eyes so big and sparkly that he doesn’t look like an earthling. The other one looks more human, but he also looks like he has literally nothing inside of his skull. “Mandarin club, right?”

“Precisely!” The empty-headed one says cutely, signalizing their little flag with a hand gesture. The alien is still staring at Kyungsoo. Without blinking. “You want to enroll?”

“I… yes,” Kyungsoo finds himself reviewing his choice. Maybe he should try the brass club after all… “I’m Do Kyungsoo from 1-C. Nice to meet you.”

“I’m Zhang Yixing. This is Lu Han,” he says, pointing at the alien, who smiles and nod. “We’re second year.”

“Huh…” his Korean is heavily accented. It’s not bad. It also means that Kyungsoo will be learning from native speakers, which is good.

“So, Kyungsoo sshi,” Lu Han says suddenly, proving that he can speak human language. “Do you have any experience with Mandarin?”

His Korean is far better. Kyungsoo shakes his head. “I want to learn it, though,” he says, feeling a bit silly for stating the obvious. “I might have some difficulty, but, from now on, please treat me well,” and he finishes with a polite bow.

Lu Han’s eyes sparkle like strobe. Yixing’sface seem to light up, and he suddenly looks much less empty headed. Kyungsoo sighs silently, and reassures himself that no, he wouldn’t be better off fighting murderous ovens in home economy. He’s okay like this. Really! He sits down. Behind him, the black-framed glasses guy is picking another book to read.

“So,” Lu Han starts off, grabbing a form and handing it over to Kyungsoo. “Please fill out this membership form. By the way, do you have any friends who might want to join us?”

Kyungsoo blinks, slightly surprised. “I… don’t have any friends,” he confesses, the tips of his ears turning red against his will. “Um, not yet, I mean,” he adds, grabbing the form so to fill it. 

He’s searching for his pen in his pencil case when he first hears it – sudden assault of Mandarin. He’d soon find out that was a normal consequence of tagging along Lu Han and Yixing, but the first time of hears it, he’s startled, then fascinated. Lu Han and Yixing are just sitting there, talking about something in rapid Mandarin, with lots of giggling and eyebrow-wiggling. Kyungsoo cannot understand a word, but, if the way they steal side-glances at him all while speaking, he has a feeling it’s about his admission into the club. For some reason, it doesn’t bother Kyungsoo that they’re talking about him right in front of him. He just shrugs it off and continues to fill out the form.

More Mandarin. More giggling, this time a remarkably loud round. A solid bang, one that makes Kyungsoo jump up in startle and turn around – black-framed glasses guy has just dropped his book and is staring bug-eyed to Lu Han and Yixing. Shocked and mystified ,Kyungsoo stares back, equally bug-eyed. The guy turns his gaze to him, then turns away hastily, grabbing a book from the shelf and striding away. Kyungsoo tries to reason what just happened, but promptly gives up and goes back to the form, finishing it quickly.

“Great. Thank you, Kyungsoo sshi,” Yixing takes the form with both his hands, smiling politely at him. Him and Lu Han quickly read through it, and then shove it back into the classifier it came from, not seeming to assimilate any of the information written there. “When we give this to the student committee, you’ll be official member! Welcome to Mandarin Club!”

Kyungsoo smiles. “Thank you. Please treat me well,” he bows, and his smile falters in apprehension when his seniors giggle again. Are they making fun of him…?

“We will,” Lu Han answers with a grin and a conspiring side-glace to Yixing. “Don’t worry about it.”

 

 

So, basically, Mandarin club activities were lot less like classes than Kyungsoo initially thought. Basically, he, Lu Han and Yixing just chatted about stuff – about family, and what they liked to eat for lunch, and movies, and hobbies – while the two Chinese seniors taught Kyungsoo how to say some key sentences in Mandarin. After the first week as a member, Kyungsoo could already introduce himself and his family in the language, as well as say ‘I like cooking Italian food’ and ‘I’m a member of the Mandarin club’.

“You learn so fast, Kyungsoo,” Yixing compliments after Kyungsoo succeeded at repeating ‘When can I meet you again?’ after him. “A very good student. Must be at the top of your class!”

“Is it so? Thank you,” Kyungsoo smiles, flinching silently when Lu Han puts his hand on his shoulder. He doesn’t know why, but sometimes he gets really… odd vibes from Lu Han. Perhaps because Lu Han still fails to look human most of the time.

“Definitely a straight-As student,” Lu Han affirms, nodding, and Kyungsoo doesn’t have the heart to tell him he’s wrong. “So straight-laced, and so handsome too!” This time, Yixing nods too, and both have this proud parent act going on, but Lu Han’s arm are now around his shoulder, and Lu Han is much closer than necessary. “You must be popular. You definitely have a girlfriend, right?”

“A girlfriend!” Yixing exclaims in delight, and his eyes twinkle. “Who is it?”

“Uh… I don’t…” Kyungsoo makes an effort to free himself from Lu Han’s grip, but it’s futile; his only option would be to push his senior away, which he’s not fully comfortable with performing just yet. “I don’t really have a girlfriend… sunbaenim, you’re hurting me…”

“Oh! Sorry,” Lu Han lets him go, and he almost topples over his chair. “No girlfriend then?” 

“No girlfriend,” Kyungsoo confirms, reacquiring his balance on the chair.

“No one you like?” Yixing asks, raising his brows questioningly.

“No, there’s no one I like,” Kyungsoo affirms.

“Huh…” Lu Han directs a grin to Yixing, and mutters something in Mandarin. The chuckle Yixing lets out is unexpectedly dark. “So, Kyungsoo; I’ll teach you how to say ‘I don’t have a girlfriend right now’ in Mandarin. Repeat after me…”

As Kyungsoo struggles to mimic the intonations that Lu Han pronounces so easily, he notices a familiar figure from the corner of his eye. He seizes a momentarily distraction of both his tutors – who pause briefly to talk to each other in Mandarin, as they often do – to turn around, and there he is. It’s Black-Framed Glasses Guy, in all his tallness and dorkiness, holding a book over his face, but with his glance fixed on Kyungsoo. As Kyungsoo stares back at him, he quickly looks away, pushing his glasses up his nose before closing his book and hastily taking a leave. Kyungsoo frowns.

“Do you know him, Kyungsoo?” Yixing asks, and Kyungsoo turns around in startle. He didn’t notice they had stopped talking.

“Huh, not really. I’ve seen him around,” Kyungsoo confesses. Lu Han and Yixing nod vaguely, but say nothing else.

“Okay. Pay attention now, and repeat after me…”

 

 

And so, a month passes. Kyungsoo finds himself enjoying a smooth sailing of his life as a highschooler, despite his strange club mates and the fact he hasn’t really made any friends apart from them. He has managed to avoid any encounters with the brass club captain so far, and survived being grouped with the scary dark-eyed kid from his class in Chemistry class, and also learned how to ignore Black-Framed Glass Guys most of the time, so he’s doing pretty fine, in his opinion. Also, he knows so many sentences in Mandarin now!

“’Please go out with me’,” he repeats as instructed by Yixing. Both Lu Han and Yixing watch him with excitement. “’I’d like to spend my nights with you from now on’.”

“Amazing!! You really are a prodigy!” Lu Han applauds enthusiastically as Kyungsoo thanks them shyly. He doesn’t really understand the connotations of what he just said, because it’d take a fluent speaker to detect that, but it doesn’t matter. “You’re so cute and smart, Soo yah. You’re amazing!”

“Thank you,” Kyungsoo bows awkwardly, shy and a bit creeped out. 

“It sounds so cute when you say it,” Yixing comments, eyes twinkling somewhat cutely, but in a way Kyungsoo doesn’t trust. “Maybe it’s your accent?”

“Maybe it’s just Soo yah’s natural charm,” Lu Han coos, grabbing Kyungsoo’s cheeks and pulling them painfully. Kyungsoo screams in pain. He shouldn’t have let him turn that into a habit. Actually, he shouldn’t have let ‘Soo yah’ become a habit either… “You’re the cutest club member ever!”

“Ahahaha,” the only reason why Kyungsoo accepts this kind of compliment from them is because of the cultural diference. He’s sure they don’t mean to say he’s literally cute, or that they literally want to bite him (as they reinforce from times to times) – they’re just normal compliments that got lost in translation, he’s sure of it.

“Kyungsoo yah,” Yixing is much more respectful to his name than Lu Han. Actually, Yixing is much more respectful to Kyungsoo’s general integrity than Lu Han. The only thing that puts Kyungsoo off about him is how sometimes he looks so calm, and suddenly starts to look like he knows all of your dirtiest secrets. _All_ of them. “Want to go home with us today? We can go out to eat together!”

The invitation catches him by surprise. “Sure!” he answers immediately, before he can reflect upon whether he really wants to spend another two hours or so with them or not. It’s the first time in his high school life that he has been invited out by school friends. It sounds fun! “Thank you for inviting me!”

“We should go get some crépes,” Yixing suggests as the three of them start gathering their material.

“Or corndogs,” Lu Han singsongs in response, wiggling his eyebrows while piling up his books.

Kyungsoo doesn’t notice the sudden advent of another instance of Mandarin And Giggling Time, because he suddenly realizes there’s something missing. He glances at the contents of his bag, and jumps up.

“Ah!” he exclaims, eyes wide. “I forgot my math textbook at my classroom! Just a second, I’ll be right back!”

He sets off for the classroom, hurrying so not to make them wait. Usually, he’d just leave the book there and retrieve it in the morning, but he had math homework to finish, and he didn’t like letting schoolwork pile up; he hates feeling like a slacker. Specially after Lu Han and Yixing praised him so many times for being smart. For the sake of maintaining his image of straight-As student in front of his seniors, Kyungsoo makes that effort.

He almost sacrifices such effort, though, when he turns around a corner and collides with a tall, solid frame. One that falls to the floor with great clatter, even though the collision hadn’t been _that_ violent. Kyungsoo almost turns around and leaves, because the one he collides with is no one other than Black-Framed Glasses Guy, the infamous creep from the library.

But he can’t leave the guy there, fallen on his butt, blindly searching the floor for his glasses, which landed on the opposite direction. So Kyungsoo kneels, grabs the glasses, and offers them to him. “Here.”

The guy jumps at Kyungsoo’s voice, as if he didn’t expect Kyungsoo to talk to him. Glancing at the floor, he takes the glasses and puts them back on. “Thank you,” he mutters shyly.

As he gathers his books and gets on his feet, Kyungsoo notices it’s the first time they’ve spoken to each other. So far, all they’ve exchanged were glances in the library, and even those weren’t direct. It’s also the first time Kyungsoo notices the full dimension of Black-Framed Glasses Guy’s exaggerated height. He’s truly monstrously tall.

“Um,” the impulse to break the silence takes over Kyungsoo. “Nice to meet you. I’m Do Kyungsoo.”

The guy jumps again. Kyungsoo wishes he wouldn’t. He seems to recompose himself pretty quickly, though, and clears his throat to say, “I’m Wu Yifan.”

And it’s time for Kyungsoo to jump because what the fuck is that voice? Black-Fram—Wu Yifan’s voice is unexpectedly deep. It’s definitely not what Kyungsoo expected for someone as dorky and fidgety as him. He had expecting something squeaky and feeble, the complete opposite of what he got. “Huh,” he comments eloquently, a bit stunned. “I… see you at the library sometimes.”

Yifan lets out a tired sigh. “Just keeping an eye on some people…” he mutters darkly, and Kyungsoo’s mind flashes back to Lu Han and Yixing. “Oh, right! Here, you forgot this at your classroom,” Yifan surprises Kyungsoo by saying, and suddenly he’s offering Kyungsoo’s math book for him to take. “Tao asked me to hand it over. Huang Zitao. He’s a classmate of yours.”

“Ah, uh, thanks,” Kyungsoo knows well who Huang Zitao is. The dark-eyed scary kid. The Home-economy Assassin. He has touched that book. “Thank you, sunbaenim. I was looking for that.”

“No problem,” Yifan brushes it off with a hand gesture. Kyungsoo notices he doesn’t smile. 

“Right,” finally noticing he has been staring, Kyungsoo shakes himself off his reverie. “I’m off, then. Thank you for the book. See you around, I guess?”

“Uh, yeah, sure,” Yifan pointedly looks away from him. It’s only when Kyungsoo is finally walking away that he calls back, “Hey, Kyungsoo sshi!”

That voice really doesn’t match him. Kyungsoo turns around with a questioning expression. “Yes?”

However, it looks like Yifan hasn’t thought of anything to say. Or rather, it looks like he’s still picking his words. After fumbling with the hem of his vest for a while, he finally lets out a: “Take care.”

Kyungsoo is not sure whether he means it in a general way or ‘take care because you’re in great danger and no one but myself acknowledges that’. Regardless, he smiles. “I will. Thank you!”

And he walks away in time to miss how bright Yifan blushes at that.

 

 

Hanging out with Lu Han and Yixing turns out to be extremely similar to club activities. But with food.

“Soo yah, open wide!” Lu Han is trying to shove an ungodly big slab of pancake into Kyungsoo’s mouth.

“Kyungsoo, do you want some juice?” Yixing offers his own glass of strawberry juice.

“Soosoo! Do you want to try the mont blanc?” _Who the hell are you calling Soosoo_ , Kyungsoo thinks in annoyance.

“Kyungsoo yah, there’s some cream on your lip…” before Kyungsoo can even compute the sentence, Yixing is leaning forward with a napkin and gently wiping it off for him.

Yep, exactly like club activities.

 

 

Kyungsoo’s highschool life takes an unexpected turn when, the next time the Chemistry teacher assigns his class for group work, Huang Zitao immediately claims Kyungsoo as his work partner. Kyungsoo contemplates escaping through the window, but it’s all too late; his colleague is already approaching him, and the teacher is describing their task without a care in the world. To top it off, they’ll be performing an electrolysis experiment together. Kyungsoo is pretty sure assigning electrolysis experiments to high school students is illegal.

Zitao grabs the cables. Kyungsoo winces. Zitao releases the cables onto the desk.

“I come in peace,” he announces.

Kyungsoo widens his eyes because wow, okay, what was that voice. He had probably switched it with Yifan at some point of their lives. Ninjas aren’t supposed to have such squeaky voices.

“Huh,” another display of eloquence by our hero Do Kyungsoo.

“I even brought you a gratuity,” Zitao whispers, patting his pocket and looking around in suspicion.

“A what,” Kyungsoo is increasingly confused.

“A gratuity. I’m here to bribe you. Peacefully bribe you.” As the teacher explains about the safety procedures – maybe they should really be paying attention to that – Zitao pulls out something from his pocket. A pouch. A small, pink, crochet pouch. “It’s a cellphone bag. I made it in the home economy club. It’s for you.”

Kyungsoo should feel awkward at receiving something that he doesn’t want, doesn’t need, and that doesn’t match him at all, but he feels strangely touched. It does feel like Zitao put a lot of effort in that just from touching it. “Thank you,” he’s oddly sincere when he says that.

“In exchange for that,” Zitao whispers, eyes dark, but not menacing anymore. “You have to quit the Mandarin club.”

Kyungsoo halts still.

Not because he’s outraged by the prospect of quitting his club, but because he doesn’t understand why Zitao would try to sabotage his journey through the Mandarin language.

“Why?” He doesn’t hide any of his confusion when he asks that.

“You have to,” Zitao answers, carelessly grabbing the cables again. It’s then that Kyungsoo realizes they were supposed to start the electrolysis immediately, and he hopelessly try to remember the teacher’s instructions. “It’d take too long for me to explain. We’ll need a vase and some water.”

Kyungsoo hastily gets up to get those elements from the cupboard. When he returns, he asks, “could you please explain? Am I in for something dangerous?”

The glance Zitao directs him is pitying. 

“You don’t really know anything, do you,” he mutters, and says nothing else for the rest of the class.

 

 

The library is abnormally empty that day. From the club’s usual table, Kyungsoo can’t see or hear anyone else, which gifts the place with an eerie, somber atmosphere. Lu Han and Yixing, too, are unexpectedly quiet today. No ‘Soo yah’. No remarks on how cute he is. No lewd Mandarin sentences for him to repeat after them. Just a lot of reading and copying from textbooks, in a silence broken only by the occasional whisper from Lu Han to Yixing, from Yixing to Lu Han, back and forth, no giggles.

Kyungsoo is unbearably nervous. The crochet pouch Zitao gave him weighs a ton in his pocket.

It takes a pen falling for the silence to be shattered. A pen – Kyungsoo’s – that falls to the floor with little noise, but, as he raises his head from picking it up, Lu Han calls him. “Kyungsoo yah.”

Kyungsoo flinches.

“Yes?” He nurses a friendly smile, a token of ‘there’s-no-reason-why-you-could-possibly-be-mad-at-me’ innocence. Lu Han and Yixing are smiling, as they usually are, but there’s something amiss about it. Kyungsoo doesn’t want to find out what it is.

“Did someone tell you bad things about us?” Lu Han’s expression is artificially harmless and curious. “Or told you to stay away from you, or something like that?”

A thick, heavy moment of silence.

Kyungsoo does the only thing that comes to his mind: he laughs.

“Hahahaha!” It comes out forced and a bit hysteric, but he finds it convincing enough. “What?! Why would anyone do that? Sunbaenim, are you feeling well today? Hahaha!”

Kyungsoo lets it fade. To his relief, Lu Han and Yixing exchange a glance and laugh too, which makes him think his lie has been accepted.

“You’re right. I must be paranoid. Right, Xing?” Another glance – this time, more conspiring.

“No one would say something like that. Right?” Yixing answers, but a surge of darkness surfaces in his voice. 

“Definitely not!” Kyungsoo reinforces, his smile a little too wide. “You’re so nice! And, and very good seniors too! Even if someone said something bad about you, I wouldn’t believe it.” Okay, he might be pushing it a little. “Not unless you told me yourselves.”

They nod in sync at that, and Kyungsoo thinks he’s safe. Then, they exchange one more glance. One much longer, and much more meaningful, and Kyungsoo senses danger.

A quick exchange of words. A nod from Yixing. A nod from Lu Han. Kyungsoo has half a mind to make up an excuse and take off, but he stays, rooted to his seat by an unseen force. Possibly Lu Han’s alien superpowers. 

“Do you think we’re bad people, Soo yah?” Lu Han asks as he and Yixing get up, and slowly, carefully, approach his side of the table. Deliberate steps, like hunters approaching a prey. Kyungsoo unconsciously backs away, plastering his back to the wooden chair.

“Of course not!” _I don’t think you’re people at all_ , he mentally adds. “Why would I?” He attempts at laughing again, but it comes out like a faint, strangled yelp. Lu Han and Yixing are now standing each one on a side of his chair, Lu Han on the left, Yixing on the right, and the only way for Kyungsoo to escape would be sliding under the table and dashing towards the exit. He’s not athletic enough to perform such move.

“Some people do,” Yixing whispers to Kyungsoo, touching his cheek softly, tracing his jaw line with the very tip of his finger. “Some people think we’re bad to you. And they want to take you away from us.”

Kyungsoo is in cold sweats.

“I noticed you have something in your rear pocket,” Lu Han lowers himself to whisper against Kyungsoo’s ear. Kyungsoo flinches. “What is it, Soo yah?”

 _Shit fuck goddamnit_ , Kyungsoo thinks, at a loss. Lu Han knows about the pouch. Actually, both of them know about the talk he has had with Zitao, he’s sure. And he doesn’t know why, but he’s scared shitless. He’s scared that they’ll think Kyungsoo tried to quit, to… betray them, or something. 

What does he say?

What does he do?

_What does he do?_

And why is he even that scared, to begin with?

Before an answer can descend upon Kyungsoo, and even before he can give any kind of answer to Lu Han’s question, a loud bang breaks the atmosphere, and steps approach them rapidly. Neither Lu Han or Yixing move, but Kyungsoo leans forward to take a look at whoever invaded the scene, (hopefully with intentions of saving him). 

There, in front of them, stands Wu Yifan, panting slightly.

“Stop right there,” he commands, pushing his glasses up his nose. It’s unexpectedly lame. “Leave him alone.”

None of them seem to take him seriously. Kyungsoo can’t blame them.

“Well, well, well. Look at who’s finally here.” Kyungsoo doesn’t understand what Yixing says, because he says it in Mandarin, which means our hero remains clueless till the end of the following conversation. “Our honorary fourth member! You’re late.”

“Don’t do anything to him,” Yifan reinforces.

“We weren’t even going to do anything,” Lu Han backs off from Kyungsoo’s chair, hands in the air to signalize his innocence. A smirk, a side-glance to Yixing. “Or were we?”

“Enough is enough. I hear the kind of stuff you teach him here,” Yifan snarls. “I don’t know what your intentions are, but it’s not right to take advantage of freshmen like this.”

Lu Han and Yixing giggle sardonically. “He doesn’t know what our intentions are,” Yixing repeats to Lu Han, as if that was the most hilarious joke anyone has told him. “Okay, Yifan. You got us. We admit defeat; you’re free to do your white knight duties. For now.”

Yifan says nothing, and does nothing but eye them with defensive suspicion. They chuckle again, much more silently this time, and leave Kyungsoo’s side. Kyungsoo is looking formidably lost.

“Soo yah, we’re leaving,” Lu Han switches back to Korean, grabbing his bag unceremoniously. “Xing and I have an assignment to finish.”

“Tomorrow we’ll teach you new sentences,” Yixing promises with his usual sweet smile, no traces of anything evil or dubious to it. “Bring us some snacks, okay? Bye bye!”

And they leave, only stopping to playfully bump shoulders with Kris, silently taunting him.

Thick silence, once again. Kyungsoo is still plastered to his chair.

“Uh,” he decides to break the silence, recomposing himself and getting on his feet. “I don’t know what you said to them, but. Thank you for saving me. Sort of.”

Yifan nods dismissively, biting his lip. For a moment, it looks like he’ll wait in silence till Kyungsoo gathers his things and leaves, but, after a few seconds, he speaks up. “They… didn’t do anything to you, did they?”

Kyungsoo doesn’t know how to answer. No, they didn’t actually do anything to him, but he feels thoroughly terrorized. Instead of replying, he shoots back with another question. “What kind of person Lu Han sunbaenim and Yixing sunbaenim are?”

Yifan frowns at him. He obviously doesn’t know what he means. “I mean,” Kyungsoo rephrases. “Are they… gang leaders or something? Dangerous people?”

Yifan’s eyebrows shoot up. Kyungsoo wishes he’d actually answer his questions.

“Not really?” Kyungsoo’s wish is granted. “They’re, um, kind of influential here at school, but they’re not gang leaders. Or delinquents of any sorts. They’re just… weird.” He shrugs. “As you might’ve noticed.”

Kyungsoo laughs at that, which seems to catch Yifan by surprise. Soon enough, though, he smiles in response – and Kyungsoo is taken aback by how much a smile can change his features. “You’re okay, though? Did they do anything to you?”

“Ah, no, I’m fine! I don’t think they were going to hurt me,” Kyungsoo dismisses the possibility with a hand gesture. “They’re my seniors. I was just a bit scared.”

Yifan doesn’t seem to believe him, but relents. “Do you, um,” he fumbles around for a moment, poiting at Kyungsoo’s bag, but saying nothing. “Do you… want me to walk you downstairs? I could hold your things for you.”

A pause. Kyungsoo blinks. ¿¿What?? “Um, sure?” His bag isn’t particularly heavy, but hey, why not? “Thank you?”

“It’s nothing.” Yifan’s cheeks are slightly pink; he covers that up by looking away and fidgeting with his glasses. Kyungsoo can’t help but find him equally adorable and ridiculous.

The walk down the hallway is silent, but comfortably so. Even when they climb down the stairs, Yifan tries to match his step to Kyungsoo’s, despite his legs being much, much longer. Kyungsoo might be twisting things around just because Yifan is being nice to him at the moment, but he’s starting to think that Yifan isn’t really as creepy as he initially thought. He’s actually really nice. All the time Kyungsoo thought he was stalking him, he was actually just watching over him.

“Thank you for today,” Kyungsoo says as they climb down the third flight of stairs. “I was scared. I’m glad you came to my rescue.”

“Uh, no problem,” Yifan grunts back, clearing his throat. 

“And thank you for carrying my bag for me too,” Kyungsoo continues, stretching his arms, enjoying the freedom. His bag is quite heavy. “You’re a really nice guy. Is it okay if we become friends?”

At that, Yifan halts still.

Kyungsoo doesn’t notice it at first, and just keeps walking. It’s only when he’s three steps below Yifan that he does notice, and he turns around to stare at Yifan in confusion. He looks… troubled. Deeply troubled. Kyungsoo frowns in confusion. Did he say something wrong…?

“I really…” Yifan mutters to himself, clutching Kyungsoo’s bag against his chest. Kyungsoo’s frown deepens significantly. Yifan laughs humorlessly, eyes on the floor, unfocused. “I’m just as bad as them, am I not?”

“… sunbaenim?” Kyungsoo fears his knight in shining armor might be going insane.

Which is reinforced when, in the following second, Yifan is rushing downstairs, shoving Kyungsoo’s bag onto Kyungsoo’s arms, and fleeing the scene as fast as his long legs can take him.

 

 

Kyungsoo’s state of shock and utter confusion lasts till the following morning, and he’s definitely not prepared for when Zitao grabs him by the scruff of his neck and drags him to the restroom. He almost screams, but he’s thankfully too lost to do so. Meanwhile, Zitao takes him to the last stall, locks them both in, and corners Kyungsoo against the vase.

“You didn’t quit the Mandarin club,” he snarls, and _now_ he looks quite menacing.

“I’m… sorry?” Kyungsoo offers faintly. His eyes seem about to pop out from their sockets at any moment, but he thankfully doesn’t looked scared – just surprised. “I… really don’t…”

“Now listen,” Zitao jabs a finger at Kyungsoo’s chest. “Lu-ge and Xing-ge are really nice people, but they’re up to some shady shit and it’s interfering with my plans. I could be dancing their little dance and be all good with everything, but I’m better than that and I want the person I like to be happy with the person they like, so let me make this clear: you. HAVE. To quit. The Mandarin club.”

“… your Korean is unexpectedly good” Kyungsoo frowns. Why does Zitao even know how to say ‘shady shit’ in Korean? Zitao lets out a tired sigh, rubbing his temples.

“For real. Just,” he attempts at rephrasing. “Quit the club as soon as possible. You’re in danger too, you know?”

“But I like the club,” Kyungsoo says simply.

“QUIT IT,” Zitao snaps, and Kyungsoo jumps in startle. Zitao’s eyes are wild. “Quit it or I’m gonna knit you the ugliest motherfucking sweater and make you wear it to school. Everyday. Understood?”

“… did you just—”

“And I’ll bake you the most horrible cakes ever and shove them down your throat. One by one. Understood?”

“—are you threatening me with _home economy_ —”

“This conversation is over. Goodbye.” And then, as Kyungsoo sits, dumbfounded, on the vase, Zitao leaves immediately.

Or does he?

“QUIT THE CLUB,” a yell that comes from the hallway. “TODAY!”

 

 

That day, Kyungsoo arrives at the library earlier than his seniors. It’s the first time it happens; usually, they’ll be there, waiting for him with identical smiles, full of sentences for him to repeat after them. Their absence makes Kyungsoo unease, and he fills the time before they show up by doodling on the corners of his homework. He doodles some little Lu Hans and Yixings, and various little Yifans, one of which is a stick figure running from one page to another. He also attempts at a little Zitao, and he’s trying to get his colleagues eyes right when two familiar figures walk up to his table, smiling from ear to ear.

“Sorry for being so late,” Lu Han says, not very apologetic, as he pulls a chair.

“Today, we’re going to teach you a lot,” Yixing tells Kyungsoo with a telltale smile on his lips. “You have to concentrate hard, okay? Follow us.”

“First sentence: ‘we come in peace’,” Kyungsoo is startled when Lu Han just suddenly begins, without even waiting for Kyungsoo to be ready. “Come on. We come in peace. Repeat.” Kyungsoo does.

“Second sentence,” Yixing takes over. “’We’re not trying to steal him from you’. Repeat.” Kyungsoo does, wondering what’s up with these sentences.

“Third,” it’s Lu Han’s turn. “’So stop worrying about us and look at yourself’. Come on, you can do it. Repeat.” Kyungsoo trips over the sentence five times or something.

“Fourth,” Yixing now. “’It’s up to whether you’ll take an attitude or not’. Repeat.” Kyungsoo is starting to get awfully dizzy.

“Fifth. ‘We’re not going to do anything to hinder you’. Repeat.”

“Sixth. ‘But we’re not going to help either’. Repeat.”

“’So you better hurry up and get your act together’. Repeat.”

“’Because if you don’t take action soon, we’ll count it as your loss’. Repeat.”

“’And someone might steal him from you right under your nose’. Repeat.”

Kyungsoo is out of breath when his seniors finally deem it enough, his brain sizzling inside his skull like meat on a hot pan. The gleam in their eyes is cruel, but it’s not directed at him, which is an immense relief.

“Well, this is it for today, Soo yah,” Lu Han smiles sweetly to him, and both him and Yixing get to their feet, grabbing their bags, ready to leave. “Pass the message forward, will you?”

And they leave.

Well, in Kyungsoo’s defense, he didn’t have time to even _think_ about quitting the club. Also, he has a looming feeling his desistance is not meant to be. There’s something very fishy happening among the four Chinese people he knows, and it seems like Kyungsoo is caught in the middle of some psychological tug of war bullshit. He has to think long and hard about the situation before making any drastic moves.

Though, from putting the sentences from earlier together – their Korean version, which is a little choppier than the Mandarin one, courtesy of Yixing and his odd translations – Kyungsoo already has a good guess on what might be happening. He thinks he knows what’s going on.

And he thinks he knows what to do next. 

He gets up from his table and walks right into the biology section of the library. From there, he turns right, and lands on the subsection about vegetables. Face to face with Wu Yifan.

Yifan’s eyes are wide, full of guilt and surprise. In his hands, he has a volume of _Know Your Cactus_ , which hides the lower half of his face from Kyungsoo’s view.

“You were listening,” Kyungsoo’s tone is not accusatory; it is simply affirmative. And yet, Yifan looks away, shoulders hunching defensively.

“They knew I would be listening,” he mutters in response. “They wanted me to listen.”

Kyungsoo raises a brow. Yes, that’s the most likely possibility. Shrugging, he directs his glance, hard and defiant, to Yifan’s face. Trying to make him look back. Trying to read his expression better.

“Why did you run away that day?” Kyungsoo asks, suddenly noticing how silent the library is. Well, it’s way past the last chime; even people like Lu Han and Yixing were heading home already at a time like this. Better for them, he figures out. No one to peep.

Yifan fidgets visibly for a minute – longer, perhaps – before sighing in defeat and putting the book about cactuses back on the shelf. “I’m really sorry for that,” he starts off, and his voice is even lower that usually. “I… uh, I panicked. Sorry.”

Kyungsoo blinks. “You… panicked…?” Yifan nods, still not granting Kyungsoo a glance. “Why? Was it something I said?”

“No! No, it wasn’t that,” he finally raises his eyes, and Kyungsoo can’t help but notice that his glasses are slightly crooked. His hair, too, looks like he has run his hands through it at least once. “It’s just—you’re probably going to think it’s stupid, but,” ah, there he goes, running his hand through his hand, huffing in frustration. He looks a lot different than he usually does. Much less mellow, much less dorky. “I was upset at myself for acting too nice to you. It was like I was trying to take advantage of you. Just like,” he rolls his eyes, indicating the Mandarin’s club usual table with his head. “You-know-who.”

Kyungsoo tilts his head. “You think Lu Han sunbaenim and Yixing sunbaenim are trying to take advantage of me?”

Yifan raises a brow in disbelief. “You don’t?”

Kyungsoo shrugs. “I thought I was imagining it or something. It’s weird to hear it from someone else,” he’s really not that naïve. “But well, regardless, you could’ve just talked to me, right? Since you weren’t really trying to take advantage of me, it’ll be alright. Right?”

At that, Yifan says nothing. Instead, he turns away very, very slowly, as his face changes color from his pale skin tone to bright, vivid scarlet. 

Kyungsoo lets out a cruel chuckle.

“You _were_ trying to take advantage of me,” he taunts, smirking. He has finally hit bulls eye – that had been the problem all along, after all. Yifan turns to look at him, seeming a little offended.

“Not exactly?” He feigns disinterest. “I was just trying to generally impress you.”

Kyungsoo doesn’t drop the smirk. Yifan goes from embarrassed to defiant, to embarrassed again, to hopeless.

“I kind of like you,” he confesses out of the blue, and Kyungsoo, who was enjoying having the upper hand, is shocked by the sudden confession. He didn’t expect Yifan to admit it so easily. “It sounds stupid, but, yeah. And it’s not enough that the whole school is attracted to you, but I also—”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Kyungsoo hastily interrupts him. “ _What_?” Yifan blinks, visibly confused. “The whole school is what?”

“… Tao was right, you really don’t know anything,” Yifan looks equal parts fascinated and horrified. “Well… the people I talk to, at least? Mostly the guys, though. Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Kyungsoo dismisses it with a hand gesture. “Please continue.”

“Sure. Um, where was I? Ah,” Yifan resumes his explanation. “Not only the whole school is attracted to you, but I also had Lu Han and Yixing to deal with. They were completely onto you.” Yifan sighs, running his hand through his hair once again, only to try to blindly fix his hairdo afterwards. “Turns out they were just using you to taunt me.”

Silence falls upon them. Yifan looks everywhere but Kyungsoo; the books on the shelves, the ceiling, his own shoes. Kyungsoo is the opposite. He can’t take his eyes off Yifan – analyzes his tall figure, his broad shoulders, his pristine white uniforme shirt, the blond hair that’s still sticking upwards at some points. The glossy black frame of his glasses. The clear streak of pink across his cheeks.

“So,” Kyungsoo breaks the silence so abruptly he startles himself. Yifan lifts his head to meet his eyes. “Now that you’ve confessed to me… what do you intend to do?”

The question is quite sudden, Kyungsoo reckons, but he has never been a fan of beating around the bush. Yifan looks positively cornered. “I… don’t know?” he curves his thick eyebrows upwards sadly. Kyungsoo rolls his eyes. “Really! It—it depends on you, I think. It really does.”

Hm. Yifan has a point, Kyungsoo realizes. He can’t really do anything before getting an answer from Kyungsoo, or he’d probably have another guilt trip and vanish in thin air. What a sensitive guy, Kyungsoo thinks while giving Yifan an once-over. Though, he might not hate a guy like that…

“You’re tall,” Kyungsoo comments, and Yifan looks rightfully puzzled, as well as slightly miserable. “Well, actually, I usually don’t like tall people…”

“Oh,” Yifan grimaces weakly.

“… but I don’t have anything against it if it’s you,” Kyungsoo concludes, nodding to himself. “Plus, I want to live my high school times to the fullest. And clubs and friends are important for high school students, but there’s something even more important.”

The confusion in Yifan’s eyes intensifies by the second, but there’s something mixed with it now. Something slightly luminous, that reminds Kyungsoo of the only smile Yifan has given him so far. It’s hope. “Which is…?”

Kyungsoo grins.

“Romance.”

 

The silence is very feeble: soon enough, both of them simultaneously burst in laughter, loud and boisterous, and Kyungsoo ends up leaning against Yifan’s chest as he tries to stop laughing, or to laugh more quietly at least. Yifan is warm, and his chest is wide enough for Kyungsoo to feel sheltered when he leans against it; plus, his cologne smells really nice.

Laughter fades, and they become much quieter – except for the moment when Yifan all but slams Kyungsoo against a bookself, almost knocking it down, and kisses him hard on the lips.

Yep, he definitely doesn’t hate Yifan.

 

 

 

 

The following day, Kyungsoo meets Lu Han and Yixing at the school entrance. They greet him as enthusiastically as ever, thoroughly embarrassing him by yelling ‘SOO YAH’ in a whiny voice (Lu Han) and constantly reaffirming his cuteness while poking his cheeks (Yixing). 

“I heard you’re officially off the market now,” Lu Han tuts sadly. “A huge loss for the second year students.”

“At least it’s to Yifan,” Yixing comments, and Lu Han nods in agreement, even though he still looks slightly sad. “It’s not that bad if it’s him. He’s a really good guy!”

At that, Lu Han’s sad expression dissolves, and, giggling, he turns to Yixing to comment in Mandarin, “even though he’s a terrible kisser.”

Yixing chuckles. “He’s apparently good at giving head, though,” he says, and they giggle again.

“Oh, stellar, I’ve heard,” Lu Han agrees. “To compensate for his sloppy ass kissing skills.”

“I think he’s pretty good.”

Lu Han and Yixing halt still, all giggling put on hold. In varying degrees of shock and horror, they stare at Kyungsoo, who’s smiling innocently at them.

“I think he’s pretty good,” he repeats, accent heavy, but not incomprehensible. 

Lu Han’s jaw is slack. Yixing decides to play along. “At what?” he asks with a slightly lewd grin.

At that, Kyungsoo furrows his brows in deep thought. It’s hard to tell from expression whether he understood the question or not. Yixing, and Lu Han, wait in silence.

“Both,” Kyungsoo answers finally, flashing them the most angelic of the smiles. “Nine out of ten.” He chuckles, switching back to Korean. “I’m getting really good at it, am I not?”

And he sets off as the bell chimes, leaving his club mates behind as he hops among the crowd of fellow students. Some students swoon as he comes through, but he, as always, fails to notice it. Lu Han and Yixing watch in silence as his back disappear up a flight of stairs.

Lu Han’s eye twitches.

“That bastard Yifan,” he mutters viciously. “How could I let him have _my_ underclassman this easy? I’m gonna kill him.”

Yixing puts a comforting hand on his friend’s shoulder, smiling candidly at him. “Don’t worry,” he says, eyes on the spot they had last seen Kyungsoo climbing the stairs. “He’s still a freshman. Our chance will come.”


End file.
